Deck latch



2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTR.

Sept 17, 1957 T. H. JoHNsToNE DECK LATCH Filed May A2o, 1955 THEODORE H. JOHNSTONE ATTORNEYS Sept 17, 1957 T. HfJoHNsToNE 2,806,727

DECK LATCH Filed May 20, 1955 2 sheets-sheet 2 A INVENTOIL THODORE H. JoHNs'roNE BY /wf/ v/mdd ATTORNEYS aan nnen Laren Theodore H. .lohnstone Detroit, Mich., assigner to Hondaille industries, Inc., a corporation et Application May 20, 1955, Serial No. 509,866

Claims. (Ci. 292-215) This invention relates to improvements in latching mechanisms and more particularly relates to a simplified and improved form of latching mechanism for use in locking a deck door of a rear deck for a luggage compartment of an automobile.

A principal object of my invention is to provide a novel and improved form of deck latch of the rotatable latch bolt type, together with a simplified form of release means therefor, releasing the latch for free rotation during closing movement of the deck door.

A further object of my invention is to provide a latching mechanism in which the deck door may be held locked when in various positions with respect to its keeper, enabling the door to be locked when blocked from full closing movement by luggage and the like.

A further object of my invention is to improve upon the deck latching mechanisms heretofore used in automotive vehicles by providing the latching mechanism with a freely rotatable latch bolt, a pivoted dogging lever having dogging engagement with the latch bolt to hold the same in a locked position md by providing a camming release engageabie with the keeper during closing movement of the deck door, and engaging the dogging lever adjacent one end thereof to release the same during closing movement of the deck door, and having an Outside operated release engageable with the other end of the dogging lever, for releasing the same from the outside of the deck door.

These and vother objects of my invention will appear from time to time as the following specification proceeds and with reference to the accompanying drawings Where- 1n:

Figure l is a partial fragmentary vertical sectional view taken through a portion of the rear deck and deck door of an automobile, showing one form in which the latching mechanism of my invention may be embodied;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional View taken through the deck latch substantially along line ll-ll of Figure l;

Figure 3 is an end view of the deck latch with the top cover broken away and showing the latch moving toward a keeper engaging position, with the dogging lever released from the latch bolt;

Figures 4 and 5 are views somewhat similar to Figure 2 and showing the latch bolt approaching a locked position and in its locked position; and

Figure 6 is a view somewhat similar to Figures 3, 4 and 5 but showing the dogging lever released from the latch bolt by the outside operated release lever, to accommodate opening of the deck door.

In the embodiment of my invention illustrated in the drawings, l have shown a latching mechanism 10 swingable with a rear deck door 11 of an automotive vehicle, for cooperation with a strike bar or keeper 12, secured to a rear frame member of the rear deck of the automotive vehicle. The strike bar or keeper 12 is shown as extending in a plane generally perpendicular to the swing line or plane of door closing movement and as extending upwardly from a keeper plate 16, adjustably 2,555,727 Patented Sept. 17, 1957 Vine secured to the frame member 15 as by machine screws 17.

The latch mechanism 10 is herein shown as being carried on a latch plate 19, secured to the rear end portion of a spacer plate 20. The spacer plate 20 is secured to and spaced inwardly of the deck door 11, and the upper end portion thereof extends generally downwardly and angularly inwardly away from the deck door and spaces a lower portion 18 thereof outwardly from the deck door. The lower portion 18 is inclined toward the deck door at a relatively iiat angle and has a lower hanged portion Z1 extending along the inner side of the deck door and Welded or otherwise secured thereto.

The deck door may be hinged to the car body (not shown) at its upper end and moves in an arcuate path in a generally vertical direction about the axis of its hinges during door opening and closing movement.

The latch plate 19 may be bolted or otherwise secured to the lower portion 18 of the plate 20, and extends downwardly therefrom and angularly inwardly of the deck door in the general plane of door swinging movement and generally perpendicular to the center line of the strike bar or keeper 12. The latch plate 19 has inwardly pressed anged portions 23, forming a reinforcement for a casing plate 24 of the latch plate 19. The casing plate 24 extends generally perpendicular to the axis of the strike bar or keeper 12 and has a casing plate 25 spaced outwardly therefrom and with the plate 24 yforming a casing for a latch rotor 27, and the dogging and release mechanism therefor.

The latch rotor 27 is freely pivoted to the latch casing, formed by the casing plates 24 and 25 on a pivot 29, herein shown as being in the form of a collar spacing the plates 24 and 25 apart and secured thereto as by a rivet 30 which also serves to hold the casing plates 24 and 25 together.

The latch rotor 27 has an arm 31 extending outwardly from the plates 24 and 25 beyond the margins thereof and adapted to engage an inwardly extending portion 34 of the casing plate 25, which serves to limit movement of the latch rotor 27 in a latching direction. Spaced downwardly from the arm 31 and extending inwardly therefrom a keeper receiving recess 35 engageable with the strike bar or keeper 12, and locking the deck door 11 from opening movement when the latch rotor 27 is held from rotation.

Extending downwardly from the keeper engaging recess 35 from the outer end thereof is an arcuate camming surface 37 engageable with the strike bar or keeper 12 during door yclosing movement and camming the latch rotor into position to register the keeper receiving recess 35 with the keeper 12 as the deck door is moved from the position shown in Figure 3 to that shown in Figure 4.

On the opposite side of the latch rotor 27 from the recess 35 and camming face 37, are a series of ratchet teeth 39 adapted to be engaged by a pawl tooth 40 of a dogging lever 41.

1 The dogging lever 41 is shown as being mounted on a spacer collar 43, spacing the plates 24 and 25 apart and having a rivet 44 extending therethrough and securing the plates 24 and 25 together.

The dogging lever 41 is shown as having a depending arm t5 having an arcuate shoe or engaging face 47 facing a earning arm 49 of a release or unlatching cam 50, for

the dogging lever 41.

The release cam 55 is shown as being pivoted on the collar 29 and as having an arm 51 extending inwardly therefrom having an outwardly inclined end portion 52 extending toward the plate 24. An end 54 of a torsion spring 55 extends through the inclined end portion 52. The spring 55 biases an outer camming face 55 of the camming release 5G outwardly of the edges of the plates 24 and 25 into position to engage the strike bar or keeper 12 during closing movement of the deck door and eect engagement of the camming arm 49 with the shoe 47, to cam the clogging lever 41 to a released position with respect to the ratchet teeth 39, as shown in Figure 3. An opposite end portion 57 of the torsion spring 55 engages on the opposite side of the ange or shoe-from the camming lever 49, and biases the shoe 47 in a direction to engage the camming lever 49, and also biases the pawl tooth 40 into engagement with the ratchet teeth .39, to hold the latch rotor 27 from moving in an unlatohing direction.

The clogging lever 41 also has an. outside release arm 59 extending in an opposite direction from lthe ,pivot collar43 from the shoe 47, and having `an engaging face 6i) engageable with a release arm 61 of a bell crank 63. The .bell crank 63 is shown as being mounted on a generally horizontal ledge 64 of a bracketS, herein vshown as forming an .inward and upward continuation of the inwardly Vextending portion 34 of the casing plate 25. A

' pivot pin in the form of a headed ,rivet .66 riveted tothe ledge 64 and having itshead engaging the underside vof the Vbell crank 63 is provided to pivotally .mount said bell crank to said ledge. The bell crank 63 also Vhas an upwardly .projecting lever arm 67 spaced outwardly Yfrom the Apivot thereof and extending ,through ,an open .portion 6,2 of the lower portion 18 of the spacer plate. 20. The `arm 67 is Vpositioned to be engaged .by a depending arm 69 of a pushbutton release member 70, slidably or depressibly mounted within arlock `easing 71 V,secured .to the rear plate of the deck door 11. The pushbutton 70 may be biased outwardlyk by suitable spring means (not shown) and may contain a key operated release mechanism (not shown) accommodating the pushbutton 70 to be depressed to pivot the bell crank 63 in a direction to release the pawl tooth 4l) of the clogging lever 41 from the ratchet teeth 39, tor release the latch rotor27 and accommodate the deck door to freely open. The key operated mechanism may also be operated to lock the pushbutton 7 0 against depressible movement, and thus to lock the door closed. The face 60 of the release arm 59 of the clogging lever 41 is shown in Figure l as engaging the side of the arm 61.V The spring S thus biases the face 60 into engagement with the arm 61 and biases the arm 67 toward the arm `69 in position to be engaged thereby upon de pression of the pushbutton. Y Y Y VIn Figures 2 through 5 a guide pin 73 is shown as being positioned at the opposite side of the casing plate 25 fromy the keeper 12, to engage said casing plate during door closing movement and retain the same against lateral movement and thus guide the latch mechanism to properly engage the latch rotor 27 with the keeper 12 during door closing` movement. The guide bar 73 maybe secured vto the frame member i5 in a manner similar to which the strike har or keeper 12 is secured thereto.

Itrmay be seen with reference to Figures 3, 4 Yand 5, that as the deck door 11 is moving in a door closing direction, that the camming face 56 of the camming release lever Si) will irst come into engagement with the strikeV bar or keeper 12. This will eiect pivotal movement of the camming release lever 5G inra counterclockwise direction and will engage the camming arm 49 Vwith the arcuate face of the shoe or'ange 47 of the dogging lever 41, pivoting said clogging lever in a direction to release the pawl tooth 40 from the ratchet teeth 39 of the latch rotor 27.

. `Further movement of the deck Ydoor'in a door closing V'direction will then engage the `camming face 37 of the latch rotor 27 with'the curved surface of the strike bar-or keeper 12, camming the latch rotor in a counterclock- Wise ydirection to position the keeper recess 35 Vof said latch' rotor intoV position to register with the strike bar or keeper 172. At the same time the camming face 56 of the camming release S0 moves beyond the strike bar or keeper A12, releasing the dogging'lever 41 and accommodating the spring 55 to successively engage the pawl tooth 40V of said (logging lever with the ratchet teeth 39 Vas the door is moved toward a closed position, as shown in Figure 4. As the deck door is closed a further distance, the pawl tooth 4i) will successively engage the ratchet teeth 39 and will positively hold the latch :rotor 27 from rotating in a counterclockwise or release direction, until positive release of the pawl tooth 4t) from the ratchet teeth by operation of the pushbutton 70 and bell crank 63, as shown in Figure 6.

It should here be noted that the dogging lever 41 holds the latch rotor from moving in a .release direction as soon as its pawl too-th 4i) engages a iirstratchet tooth 39 in the latch rotor, and that the deck door is thus locked upon engagement of the pawl tooth 40 with the first ratchet tooth 39, but that the clogging lever 41 is cammed out of releasing engagement with the successive ratchet teeth 39, as the door is closed by engagement of the strike bar or keeper 12 with the keeper engaging recess 35. The latching mechanism thus accommodates the door to be locked in various positions from a partially to a fully closed position and thus makes it possible to lock the deck door from opening when held from moving to a fully closed position by luggage or the likeV carried in thedeck or trunk.

While l have herein shown and described one form in which my invention may be embodied, it will be understood that various modifications and variations thereof may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts thereof.

I claim las my invention:

1. In a deck latch for association with a keeper and a cooperating deck door, a latching assembly on the deck door and including a latch plate, a latch rotor, a pivot for said rotor on said latch plate, a dogging lever, a pivot for said dogging lever on saidlatch plate spaced from the pivot of said latch rotor, said latch rotor having a vkeeper receiving recess disposed to one side of said latch plate and a camming face extending therefrom, camming Vsaid latch rotor into position to engage said recess with a 'keeper during door closing movement, said latch rotor having ratchet teeth on the side thereof opposite said keeper receiving recess and releasably engaged by said dogging lever, a camming release lever pivoted on said pivot for said latch rotor and having a camming arm engageable with said dogging lever and a camming face -on the side thereof opposite said arm, engageable with the keeper during door closing movement and cammed thereby to release said clogging lever from said ratchet teeth, and a common spring biasing said dogging lever into engagement `with said ratchet teeth .and said `carnming release lever in position to engage the keeper as the door is closed.

2. In a deck latch for association with a keeper and a cooperating deck door, a latching assembly including a latch casing, a latch rotor pivotally mounted in said latch casing and having a pivot pin disposedk to one side `of said casing anda keeper engaging recess disposed out- 'Wardly of said casing and a ycamming face extending from said recess and vcamming said latch rotor in position to engage said recess with the keeper upon engagement of said camming face with the keeper upon door closing movement, said latch rotor also having ratchet teeth formed therein on the side thereof opposite from said keeper receiving recess, a clogging lever pivoted in said casing, a pivot for -said clogging lever spaced from the pivot of said latch rotor to one side thereof, said clogging lever having two arms extending in opposite directions lfrom said pivot and an intermediate pawl engageable with said ratchet teeth, a camming release lever pivoted on said pivot for said rotor and having a camming arm engageable with one arm of said clogging lever and Van outer camming face on the outside of said casing engageable with the keeper during door .closing movement to effect the release of said pawl fromsaid ratchet teeth, outside operated release means engageable with the other arm of said dogging lever, and a common spring on the pivot for said dogging lever having connection with said camming release lever and dogging lever, and biasing said pawl into engagement with said ratchet teeth and the camming face of said camming release lever into position to engage the keeper.

3. In a deck latch lfor association with a keeper and a cooperating deck door, a latching assembly including a latch plate, a pivot pin on said latch plate, a latch rotor freely mounted thereon and having a keeper receiving recess therein, said latch rotor having ratchet teeth on the opposite face thereof from said keeper receiving recess, a dogging lever engageable with said ratchet teeth for holding said latch rotor from rotation in an unlatching direction, and a camming release lever for said dogging lever pivotally mounted on said pivot pin and having an outer camming face spaced in advance of said keeper receiving recess to engage the keeper during door closing movement prior to engagement of said keeper receiving recess with the keeper and having an inner camming arm engageable with said dogging lever and camming said dogging lever to release said ratchet teeth upon engagement of said outer camming face with the keeper as .the door is closed.

4. In a deck latch for association with a keeper and .a cooperating rdeck door, a llatching assembly including a latch plate movable with the deck door, a pivot pin extending -from said latch plate adjacent one side thereof, a latch rotor pivotally mounted on said pivot pin and having a keeper receiving recess therein disposed to one side of said latch plate and also having a `camming face in advance of said keeper receiving recess to engage the keeper during door closing movement and cam said latch rotor to bring the keeper receiving recess therein into engagement with the keeper .as the door is closed, a dogging lever pivotally mounted on said latch plate adjacent the opposite side thereof from said pivot pin and yieldably biased into dogging engagement With said latch rotor for holding said latch rotor from movement in an unlatching direction, and a camming release lever pivoted on said pivot pin and having a camming arm yieldably biased away from said dogging lever and also having a camming face disposed outwardly of said latch plate in advance of said camming face of said latch rotor to engage the keeper during door closing movement prior to engagement of said camming face of said latch rotor with the keeper, to cam said dogging lever to release said latch rotor as the door is closed.

5. In a deck latch for association with a keeper and a cooperating deck door, a latching assembly including a latch casing, a latch rotor, a pivot pin disposed to one side of said latch casing `and having said latch rotor freely pivoted thereon, said latch rotor extending outwardly of said latch casing and having a keeper receiving recess therein and a camming face extending from said recess for engagement with lthe keeper during door closing movement, to carn said latch rotor into position to engage said keeper receiving recess with the keeper, said latch rotor also having ratchet teeth on the side thereof opposite from said keeper receiving recess, a dogging lever, a pivot pin for said dogging lever adjacent the opposite side of said latch casing from the pivot pin for said latch rotor and having said dogging lever pivotally mounted thereon, said dogging lever having a first arm extending in one direction from said pivot Kfor said dogging lever and a second arm extending in an opposite direction from said pivot for said dogging lever .and having a pawl intermediate the ends of said second arm having dogging engagement lwith said ratchet teeth and holding said latch rotor from movement in an unlatching direction, .a release cam pivotally mounted on said pivot pin -for said latch rotor and having a camming arm engageable with said second arm of said dogging lever .and also having an outside camming face engageable with the keeper during door closing movement to move said release cam in a direction to release said pawl from said ratchet teeth as the door is closed, a bell crank pivoted on said latch casing and having one arm engageable with said iirst arm of said dogging lever .and another arm extending upwardly from said Vdogging lever, a pushbutton operated from the outside of the door and having engagement with the upwardly extending arm of said bell crank to pivot said bell crank in a direction to release said pawl from said ratchet teeth from the outside of the door, Vand a common torsion spring on said pivot pin for said dogging lever having engagement with said release cam and biasing said release cam in a direction to engage the keeper upon door closing movement and having engagement with the second arm of said dogging lever and biasing the iirst arm of said dogging lever into engagement with said bell crank and `also biasing said bell crank toward said pushbutton.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 537,258 Wilcox et al. Apr. 9, 1895 1,544,960 Watts July 7, 1925 2,246,782 Dall June 24, 1941 2,480,688 Allen Aug. 30, 1949 

